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Brett Braley-Palko Brett Braley-Palko

COOKIE EXCHANGE!

There are many things I love about the holidays, but at the top of my list is baking cookies with my mother. Now that I am home, this will be at the top of my list. Two years ago, she taught me how to make candies from her shop. This year, we will be baking at my sister's, balancing a baby in one hand and a cookie tray in another.

These Cornmeal and Cherry Shortbread Cookies are the first of many cookies that I'll be baking here soon. They're a taste of home, and one that I have used a couple times before (here and here). I didn't want to reinvent the wheel, but I wanted to share my world with Rachel of Bakerita, as part of our blogger cookie exchange that was coordinated by one of my absolute FAVORITE blogger friends, Rebecca of Displaced Housewife. See the rest of those participating by following the hashtag #holidaycookieparty2016 on Instagram!

Cornmeal and Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Makes roughly 18 cookies, depending on your cutter size.

Ingredients:

  • 16 TB unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup AP flour
  • 1/2 cup fine cornmeal 
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 TB dried cherries
  • 12 oz good quality white chocolate, melted

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350*F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper
  2. In a food processor, pulse together butter, sugars, flour, cornmeal, and salt until it is fine and crumbly
  3. Dump out onto a floured work surface and knead in dried cherries
  4. Pat into a rectangle
  5. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out until dough is about 3/4 inch thick
  6. Cut into desired shapes and transfer shapes onto your prepared baking sheet
  7. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden and edges are only slightly browned
  8. Allow to cool, then dip in chocolate and sprinkle with a bit of white sugar or salt
  9. Can be kept for up to 5 days or a week in an airtight container
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Brett Braley-Palko Brett Braley-Palko

A New Project and A New Website

Two different people.  I used to be this kid who wore black, that wore my grades as a mark of honor, who would smoke a cigarette and hold in my cough until no one was looking.  I used to live in a world of dichotomies, I took one direction, judging those who took the other.  Bitter and self-centered, I hated everything that wasn't within arm's reach, anything I had to work for.  I was this lazy with all the best relationships I've ever held onto--from Nolan to my mother.   I was like this in law school, in California.  I left this person there, too.

In the last two months of living in Texas, living alone for the first time, I've grown into a new person.  Soft and muted blues, greens, greys--I don't hide behind a layer of black, a 4.0, or in a puff of smoke, indiscernible from the fog that hung over Pittsburgh most mornings.  I appreciate beauty and tones, floral and minimalism.  I respect the curated life, the plant you buy for decoration and how it differs from the one you buy for herbs.  I work with my hands now.  I feel a vernal change in my bones to produce, to craft, to create.  I have callouses that have softened over from when I would hold a pencil too long, back in the day when I held a pencil to write at all. My working hands are toiling again.  I'm creating candy bars, confectionaries, memories.  Someone's breakfast, someone's "cheat day".  

I appreciate a good cup of coffee above most things, and that's something that hasn't changed between the old and the new life I have.  That is why I went to Press Coffee with a simple idea:  I want to sell candy.  A simple stand, a couple dollars a bar, for an hour or two to get my name out there and have some fun doing it.  Press was, to me, the perfect venue.  From its wonderfully curated decor to its light-dappled cafe tables, Press understands appreciating the small, everyday victories of the perfect cup of coffee, the first bite of a crisp pastry, finding the just-right leather chair to sit in and enjoy the morning for what it is:  an opportunity to create, relax, not take life too hard or seriously.   I would have never thought of the generosity that would come of Natalie offering to give me liberty on stocking them as often as I could produce them.  

I am dropping off my second order this morning.  Twenty-seven bars of Matcha, Cookies and Cream, and Peanut Butter.  They're delicate and snap when you break them.  They're wrapped in the same designs I used for Nolan's Valentine's Day present, florals for spring*.  They're one of the simple pleasures we allow ourselves to spend money on, and maybe one of my customers will share his with someone he loves today.  I hope, whoever buys one, they'll recognize the attention each bar got from me.  From cutting the wrappers to measuring the foil, to getting the perfect process of tempering and cooling, each bar was made from my hands, hands that once held pencils too tightly, cigarettes too loosely, and another boy's hand too recklessly. 

If you're located in the San Antonio-area, stop by Press Coffee at 606 W French Place 78212, and maybe I'll see you there, too! (Usually for only, like, five minutes in the morning before work, though).

What my work desk usually looks like

Matcha is probably my personal favorite.  Beau and I are hockin' these like it's 2012

(they're not $2, btw)

 

*groundbreaking

And finally, a special thanks to Samuel Nuñez  for creating such an amazing logo, that inspired so much of my work this last month--from the candy bars to actually making this website a thing.  Go check him out, too!

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Getting in touch

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As I continue to navigate through this food blogging thing, I wanted to express how you can reach me. You can...

Check out my instagram

See me bumble through twitter again

Send me an Email

or reach our on here.

I look forward to hearing from you all, and expect a new post once I'm recovered from this 15 day stretch of working!

-Brett

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